|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 12:09 am
2. Chill in the Air
The winds of the north have begun to pick up, chilling the central forest villagers to the bone. You (a human, a Kage, or a human and a Kage) have noticed the biting winds at night and need to find shelter or warmth. Will you:
- Try to find a town and beg for a room? (Kage are mostly despised by the populace)
- Set up or find a shelter of your own?
- Migrate south?
[What kind of hardships will you endure with this lower temperature? Food, shelter, fire... how will you get what you need to survive? This is extremely open-ended!]
Her nose was down again, sniffing and snuffling out the faint scents of the creatures that had traveled this path in the last day. Old habits died hard, and tracking with her nose was one she couldn't shake. She felt things in the forest around her, but it was hard to distinguish which ones were of size to eat and which she had no hopes of bringing down.
All she knew was that she was hungry, and if she did not eat soon, she might not make it through the cold time. She raised her head, sniffing at the air before whimpering softly. She had never been alone before...not like this. She wanted her pack back... She had searched for so long, and had traveled so very far...but she couldn't find their scent. She couldn't hear their voices.
She whimpered again, the sound grainy in her throat, now raw from her failed attempts to howl to her brothers and sisters. She couldn't sing to the moon like she use to. Everything felt wrong, moved wrong. Her body was wrong.
She started off again, slowly placing one paw infront of the other. She had to find food, or she would starve. She decided to continue following the path, her legs breaking into an easy lope. She'd smelt deer and rabbit, faint though they were, and she was certain the rabbit had come this way.
The trail was narrow, weaving around brier patches and thick bushes, but when it finally came to an end the moon was rising again and the sun had always waved it's final goodbyes. The wind was raising itself as well, shifting the snow around her feet as it howled through the trees. She envied it, and felt the powerful longing emerge in her chest again. She wanted to howl with the wind, to sing her sorrow for the loss of her pack, the loss of her family, her life.
Instead she inspected the village before her. She could sense all the humans in it. Dangerous, aggressive, all of the monsters. Humans meant loss, and humans meant death to the pack. But her pack was already gone, and the rabbit was now long gone, if it went near that village. She slowly wove her way through the shadows, heading for the village silently.
There were no lights lit, candles all out and fires dead to ashes in their hearths. Sh lowered her nose, sniffing around the human's dens, licking at some dripped grease here and there. She froze when she heard whimpering, then slowly stalked around one house toward the sound.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:59 pm
It didn't take her long to see where the whimpering was coming from, and she had a moment pf panic. Laying closely cuddled together inside a wooden den was a litter of puppies, all snuggling and fighting for the warmest position at the center of the pile.
She'd seen dogs before, creatures like her and yet completely different. They were stupid creatures, she'd always thought so. Certainly any creature could see why being a slave to something so weak and unfaithful as a human was folly, and yet these cousins gave their alliance so eagerly to the species. But that was not a concern to her now.
She sniffed at the air, looking nervously around. The mother wasn't inside her wooden, man made den. If she was out and about the town, it wouldn't take the b***h long to find her trail and sound an alarm to the humans she served. Her ears swished this way and that, listening for movement behind her and around. All was silent, but for the little ones.
She moved slowly toward them, sniffing. She'd never eaten a dog before, she'd never had to sink so low with the pack around her, giving her strength during the hunt. But now she had no pack, no strength to take down the deer and elk in the forest. Now, all she had was herself, and herself was very hungry.
She sighed softly after inspecting the area again, then struck quickly, snatching up one fat pup and snapping its neck in her jaws before it could cry out. She didn't like the taste of it's blood, but it's meat filled her aching belly. She reached for another, and ate it slower, still listening cautiously for the mother or any other sign of life.
Slowly, the second pup vanished, and she realized the feeling of the rest of the litter had gone as well. She nosed one, flipping it's now lifeless body over in confusion. It was not a normal occurance, to have something near you die without being touched by fang nor claw. She didn't like how often it seemed to happen now.
Her ears perked up a bit when she heard barking, and she quickly snatched up one of the dead pups without a second thought as she turned from the wooden den. She stretched her legs, running as fast as they would carry her back toward the forest as more dogs took up the alarm. She heard a howl of outrage and grief, carried on the wind to her, but she ignored it and continued on her way. Now that they had her scent, she had t put some miles between the town and herself, preferably enough that the human would stop the hunt. If the b***h continued to follow her she could take the dog on, but she couldn't handle the humans and their dog pack.
So as the wind picked up she pushed on down wind, and when the snow started falling she lost the scent of the humans, lost the sound of their voices and the baying of hounds, and knew the great mother had finally taken pity on her, for her own scent was now becoming hidden under the snow that was freezing the ground. Still, it was another hour before she found a hollow log to bed down in. By then, she was tired and ready to sleep away the storm.
But that was only after she finished her meal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
